One problem related to manifold/header/muffler/tail pipe has been reported for the 2005 Ford Freestyle. The most recently reported issues are listed below. Please also check out the statistics and reliability analysis of the 2005 Ford Freestyle based on all problems reported for the 2005 Freestyle.
Throttle body problem, car doesn't start. When it does start black, smelly spoke comes out of the tail pipe. Issue started around March brought to garage said it was in need of a tune up. Had that done $400 car still did they same thing not starting. Worked fine for awhile. Again the cold weather hit. Not starting again. Brought car in again. Took 5 days to figure out the issue. $600 part plus labor $500 plus rental for 5 days $400. After reading several complaint on the same issue I am very surprised this hasn't been taken care of already. This part should be recalled and Ford should refund all costs associated with it.